I was getting a little fearful that spring would never arrive so I decided to do a little experiment. The pictures on the left are from April 3rd and the right side is April 29th. As you can see, slowly but surely, spring is creeping up on us.
Fun with Asians
For fear that we may not be back to Holland again, we have set about getting to all the “must see” tourist destinations and, apparently, so did a lot of other folks.
At Kinderdijk
Now I know a lot of you think that Asian tourists may be, shall we say, moving a little too fast. As a group they’re more fun then they get credit for.
More Picture Taking At Kinderdijk
We pulled into the Cheese Market in Alkmaar as 7 buses were unloading a sea of umbrella wielding little people. It looked like Bingo Night in Okinawa.
And Man, do they stick together. Groups moved through the Rijksmuseum like schools of jellyfish. If you become an obstacle to it’s progress, the school just flows around you and quickly regroups. If the group fixates on a painting it will form an impenetrable wall and you just have to wait your turn. The only saving grace is that they seem to have a schedule to keep.
Don’t take me wrong everyone was friendly and respectful and, mostly, were just busily chatting nonstop amongst themselves. One thing I did notice in Amsterdam was that there were very few Asian Tourists on the trams. That’s because they’re like JayZ or Willie Nelson. They bring their own Party Bus.
Whatever it is, they are happy to be here. Very happy.
Picture Taking At Kinderdijk
With or without lots of tourist Kinderdijk is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and well worth the visit.
Down on the Farm
We were staying at a great little farm, De Appelgaard, in South Holland. I’m somewhat of a city boy and don’t do particularly well with farm animals. Cows and horses scare me a little and let’s face it, goats and sheep are pretty freaky looking.
All that been said, if you want a B&B, this is your place. We had a big room, great shower and terrific breakfast, which is included in the price of the room, making it the most important meal of the day. An hour before eating, the eggs were still in the chicken and the milk was still in the cow.
Appelgaard
Fun with the Dutch
It started innocently enough. We thought we’d just pop into Gouda for a little supper. After the standard half hour search for parking we walked through the Market Square and heard Wilson Picket coming from an opened door.
Stadhuis in Gouda
We ended up in this place called TOF. During the day it’s a café with chairs and tables on the Square, but at night it transforms into a Disco and is packed.
I know this photo may look a whisper shady, but the people couldn’t have been nicer to us. They made us a special sample plate and gave us some free drinks. After we admired the beer glasses they gave us each one.
TOF Gouda
You’re probably wondering exactly what these two lunatics are doing and all I can tell you is that the special on the menu is “Spicy Balls”. When Wendi asked to see them mayhem quickly followed. The guy on the right is manager #2 and the guy on the left is manager #3. We didn’t really see him do a whole lot of managing.
Manager 2 & 3 at TOF in Gouda
After a couple rounds and soothing effect of Motown they decided we were OK and dragged us up the street to their other club, Swing, for a very private “Cigar Party”.
Off to Swing
It’s a little odd as none of us would ever smoke a cigar. As it turns out smoking tobacco is far more narfarious behavior then pot smoking. Let me explain. There are shops where you can go indoors to smoke the dreaded reefer and neither you nor the management have to fear a fine or arrest. On the other hand smoking tobacco in outlawed indoors everywhere. Young people love to smoke tobacco so club owners routinely turned a blind eye. Now clubs get two warnings. On the third time it’s a 10,000 euro fine and the fourth time costs you 50,000 euros and your business license for 6 months.
This all made the party feel a little outside the rules.
Swing in Gouda
This is manager #4, we have absolutely no idea what he manages.
Manager #4
These are dear friends Harvey, left, and Fran, right. That’s Wendi in the foreground and two guys in the middle are the big dogs. The guy on the left is manager #1 and when he talks the walls rumble. The guy on the right is his Dad, owner of these two businesses, and apparently some other more secretive business concerns that we couldn’t really go into. He never seemed to stop giggling.
TOF owners in Gouda
On a final note I should tell you that these folks told us in no uncertain terms that they love, adore , long to return to their spiritual home. Their Nivana on earth, their muse and constant inspiration, Las Vegas, Neveda.
In a previous posting I talked about my lifelong obsession with paths and county lanes. These old cities, with houses and businesses packed so close together, are filled with an abundance of narrow streets and alleys. Before the days of cars and trucks, these same lanes began as much traveled paths. They were small but bustling thoroughfares filled with people, animals and carts.
Today they have taken on a much different connotation, especially for tourists. We all get anxious when we feel displaced and on unfamiliar ground. A lot of people are very fearful of getting off the perscribed route. Some folks won’t travel at all for fear of finding themselves on unfamiliar territory. While alleys can be a welcome shortcut for locals they can also be a forbidding mystery for visitors. They can be a comfort for residents but filled with potential risk and danger for strangers who have very little idea where they lead or what potential danger may be lurking around the curve or at the far end. And yet I’m drawn to these dark passages, forever wondering how they fit into the immediate geography.
Now I’m not reckless or crazy, I don’t go trudging down alleys after dark. But, like most scary things around us, I find that if I try to overcome my natural reluctance and attempt a lane or two I usually learn a lot about the jigsaw puzzle around me.
I have only been able to find two references to the Rule of Two. In one instance it is a bidding guideline for Bridge and the other is in Star Wars where the Rule of Two states that there would be only two Sith at one time, a Master and an Apprentice. In Dutch culture, however, I can find nothing particular or overly significant about the number 2. but signs of the Two are everywhere. Never three, rarely one and fours are only pairs of two. I mentioned this to a Dutch friend and they didn’t know what I was talking about. I showed them numerous examples and the clear evidence that it is an almost constant design and decorating principle, but they were completely surprised as if they had never noticed before. But with the evidence so prevalent how can that be? Perhaps I’ve stumbled onto one of those secret code systems where people send messages to each other by moving objects in the window or leaving curtains half open.
Wendi says that I’m wrong. There is no conspiracy here they’re just neatniks, plain and simple. The only thing they are signaling from their front windows is “Look how tidy I am”.
We didn’t think that our Dutch Experience would be complete without a journey to the southern tip of Holland. We headed out for Maastricht, a very busy little city on the River Maas in the province of Limburg.
View from room 209 at the Hotel De Pauwenhof
One of Holland’s oldest towns it’s surrounded on three sides by Germany and Belgium. Between the French, Germans, Romans, Spanish, Goths, Gauls, Papists and miscellaneous angry hordes it has changed hands many times over the centuries. To this day it still seems a little under siege, only now it’s tourists and probably not marauding mercenaries or religious zealots. The tourist promoters refer to it as the “Sunniest Town in Holland” and that may it true. Much like South Dakota may be a whisper more tropical than North Dakota. In fact, it’s the only time we’ve needed an umbrella. Damp but fun none the less.
We’re here primarily to see the Bonnefantenmuseum, an amazing structure designed by Italian architect Aldo Rossi. An interesting guy, he argued that a city must be studied and valued as something constructed over time and as such it holds our “collective memory”.
Bonnefantenmuseum
Bonnefantenmuseum
On to ‘s-Hertogenbosch
S’Hertozenbosch Market Square
‘s-Hertogenbosch was the birthplace and home of one of the greatest (twisted) painters of the northern Renaissance, Hieronymus Bosch, who’s painting The Garden of Earthly Delights will still blow your mind 530 years later. And not in a good way.
Group of unknown German art students
While there some friends organized a great boat trip on the Binnen-Dieze, the city’s underground inner canal system. Apparently the canal had been an open sewer for centuries until in the 1960’s the city set out on a 25 year restoration project. Today fish swim in the water.
These are part of the Armada, a housing development designed by British architect Anthony McQuirk. From the air the eleven building project resembles a fleet of Spanish Warships moving across the water.
The Wendi Files:
I’ve been kicking around with Wendi for quite awhile now. When I was editing pictures the other day I realized that over the years, picture-by-picture, image-by-image, slowly but inevitably, I’ve turned into the chronicler of all things Wendi. While perusing the files it quickly became apparent the she has totally encompassed my entire interest and attention. I’m sort of a photographic stalker. People in Holland must be thinking, “Who’s that woman with the photographer following her around.” Shades of Gloria Swanson.
And the thing is she’s just not that gosh darned interesting. Don’t take me wrong she has her moments. That time with the bottle washer noises in the Sultan’s Palace. Or when she got drunk on that God Awful green stuff in Bruges. Sure they were great times, but to return home each day with fifty frames of the same person. I don’t think it’s natural. What do you think?
Maastricht
Adult Education:
She’s a sponge with Attention Deficit Disorder. Her thirst for mental input is unquenchable. Between taking pictures, sorting pictures, uploading pictures, checking on Facebook, checking email, QR Coding, “GPS”ing, Trip Advisoring and Googling everything in the world it’s nonstop. the Iphone is her most perfect accessory. It keeps that hot wire to the brain firmly in place.
The Crazy Hour:
Just like a cat she’s got a Crazy Hour. It’s sometimes a little longer, but the symptoms are always the same. Elevated metabolism, heightened awareness, peculiar facial expressions and extremely wacky behavior complete with physical pratfalls. Like a Labrador Retriever, run, run, run, sleep, run, run, run, sleep.
Hey, Look This Way:
Sure I point out all these characteristics, but I’m the enabler. I’m the guy running around saying, “Stand over here”, “Look this way”, “Say Gouda”. Perhaps I’m the one with ADD and she just tolerates me.
Enough
So my daughter sends me note and says “ The pictures are all lovely Dad, but where are the Ordinary Pictures?”
By that I assume she wants to see the everyday machinations of our European experience. A back stage pass, if you will, that enables you to pull back the curtain and get a glimpse of our glamorous doings. Lunch is always a good place to start.
Lunch with Bruce & Wendi
While exploring West Friesland we stopped into Medemblik for lunch and choose the De Vliegende Kraai. The only thing that “The Flying Crow” had to recommend it over it’s competitors was the fact that it was open.
De Vliegende Kraai
As you can see the interior is clean and serviceable. A 80’s mix of café and lounge.
Interior
Today’s special is a sandwich of “goat cheese with walnuts and honey”.
Interior
We ordered the Club Sandwich simply because we recognized the name “Club Sandwich”. When you can’t identify anything on the menu, in a country that eats body parts you weren’t even aware of, we have found that it’s best to latch onto a recognizable item as if it were a life preserver in a raging sea. You will also notice that I only have half a sandwich. That is because, especially at lunchtime, we try to split everything. (Well, not the coffee.) I think that we’re particularly well suited for this. Wendi eats like a parakeet and I’m cheap and a little chubby. It’s perfect for me. I get to exercise my cheapness while telling myself I’m curing my chubbiness. The only problem is that Wendi never seems to order what she wants but instead always defers to what she thinks I might want. Cool huh?
Club Sandwich
Koffee
This is the lovely gal that cooked, served and cashiered. She said that it’s quiet this time of year but with the huge amount of boaters in the summer this place will be packed with bloodthirsty mosquitoes and pesky Germans, or was that…
Waitress – Medemblik
More Ordinary Pictures
I thought the Dutch were tough. They’re whimps compared to the Danes. I haven’t been this cold in 20 years and they’re telling me it’s down right balmy. It’s 15 F out there and then an icy wind starts to blow. It creeps up your back and makes your jeans as penetrable as tissue paper. Do you think it slows these people down? Hell no! It’s spring in Denmark. They’re biking and walking and window shopping and setting at outdoor cafes with cold beer. The construction workers in front of our hotel started at 6am. They must have been trying to beat the afternoon heat. Nobody even notices the temperature. That’s the reason I’m complaining to you, the Danes don’t know what I’m talking about.
A frozen Nyhaven.
Hot or cold Copenhagen is a terrific town. It’s got a nice pulse with a lot of color and a youthful vibe. Cars and bikes and trucks and pedestrians all vying for dominance, and yet somehow cooperating with each other. Walking at night or taking public transport, although freezing, is relatively stress free as this is Europe’s safest city.
Copenhagen has lots of courtyards and private passages from one street to the next. I was intrigued with them 20 years ago and find that I still am.
There are a few things that every tourist is obligated, by law, to see.
And lots of shopping.
Nervous Shopper
Take me now! You Girly Man.
We have sailed into Odense, Denmark. Named for the Norse god, Odin, this must be the epicenter of Viking culture. As it turns out this is more the birthplace of Denmark’s favorite son, Hans Christian Andersen, then a Viking encampment. Our dear friend and Danish host, Dea, has informed us that Vikings were mostly farmers and all this talk about rape and pillaging is pure myth. That been said, I would much rather keep some of my illusions in tact and think of Vikings as the spitting image of their Gods; fierce, courageous and brooding.
St. Canute’s Cathedral (Sankt Knuds Kirke)
The history of St. Canute’s Cathedral does very little to dispel the Viking myth. King Canute and Prince Benedict were both slaughtered by angry peasants on the altar of nearby St. Alban’s Priory in 1086. Arriving at the site to collect her dead husband’s remains, Queen Adela said the small church emminated a golden light. Pilgrims soon began to show up to have their infirmities cured. Never ones to let let good propaganda go to waste, the Catholic Church canonized King Canute in 1108 and moved the Saint’s remains into the newly constructed Cathedral. And the miracles just keep on coming.
Sunbathers at the Radhus 26 F
We’ve had a few snow flurries in Denmark. Mostly the air has been clear and sharp, but winter is still with us. The sun stays low in the sky and the trees haven’t begun to soften their mark on the surroundings.
16th and 17th century timber houses are scattered throughout the old town.
Finally, the “What the Hell Is It?” section.
I asked a lot of people what this is. Either nobody knew or thought I was an idiot for asking.
Rope Thingy.
These are the Danish version of French balconies. Actually, they’re pretty cool and really open up a room.
French Balconies
These devices come in a variety of designs. They have a mirror on each side and allow you to set in the house and keep an eye on anything happening up and down the street. Apparently this is a very popular pastime in Denmark.
Nosey Neighbor Spyware
Waterpoort
Sneek is where we are situated. It is one of the Friese elf steden ( eleven Frisian cities ) that form a network tying the province together with roads, rails and canals. With all it’s canals, Sneek is the heart of the province’s water sport culture.
Along the Harinxmakade
Along the Harinxmakade
Built in 1613, the Waterpoort, or watergate, formed part of the city wall and connected to the city with the harbor. It is now a Rijksmonument or National Heritage site in the Netherlands.
Waterpoort with Schuitje
City Hall
Pet Heron
So I’m standing next to canal taking pictures and this heron walks up next to me. He was completely unafraid. I swear he was just curious to see what I was looking at.
Badhuisgracht 15
I googled the address and found that Badhuisgracht 15 is for sale for the meager sum of 447,000 euros.($578,820.30) That’s reduced from 479,000 euros.($620,257.10) Pretty hefty for a 2 bedroom, one bath.
Is any city complete without a carnival?
Whirlygig – Click Here
Kiddie ride?
Locked and loaded.
I’m thinking that a cute kiddie car with a ballistic missle attached is the definition of “Passive Aggressive”.